2023-2025 Year 12 A-Level Psychology Social Influence: Explanations of Conformity Part 2
This deck covers key concepts and research related to social influence and conformity, focusing on normative and informational social influence, as well as seminal studies by Asch and Jenness.
What kind of process is NSI?
An emotional process
Key Terms
What kind of process is NSI?
An emotional process
Who supported research to support ISI?
Jenness
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
What kind of process is NSI? | An emotional process |
NSI is linked to what type of conformity? | Compliance |
Conformity is changes in individuals… | beliefs & behaviours |
Why do individuals change beliefs & behaviours according to the definition of conformity… | Real or imagined group pressure |
Who conducted research to support NSI? | Asch |
Who supported research to support ISI? | Jenness |
How did Asch vary group size? | Varied the number of confederates//the majority |
What did Asch find about conformity rates when group size was varied? | As the number of confederates increased, conformity rates increased |
In the group size variation, when do the conformity rates plateau? | When there are 3 confederates |
When there is complete agreement from the group - this is called? | Unanimity |
How did Asch break Unanimity? | Adding a dissenting confederate |
What answer did the dissenting confederate give? | The correct answer - different to the majority's view |
What happened to conformity rates when Asch broke unanimity? | Conformity rates decreases (5.5%) |
How did Asch vary the task difficulty? | Made the stimulus and comparison lines more similar in length |
What happens to the rate of conformity as task difficulty increases? | Conformity rates increase |
Why do conformity rates increase as the difficulty of the task increases? | The answer becomes less obvious so we lose confidence so conform |
How does Jenness's study support the concept of Informational Social Influence (ISI) as an explanation for conformity? | This supports ISI because the task was ambiguous and as the participants were unsure of the answer, they sought information from the group and changed their estimate publicly and privately to be right. Therefore, increasing the validity of ISI as an explanation of conformity. |
Why does research to support ISI as an explanation for conformity, by Jenness, lack ecological validity? | This is because the study took place in an artificial environment (lab). Therefore, it is difficult to generalise the findings that individuals conform due to a desire to be right, to real life examples of ISI, as in real life, people may be less likely to conform to a group as there may be consequences for their actions, unlike in an artificial lab setting. Thus, further reducing the external validity of the research in to ISI and questioning ISI as an explanation of conformity. |
How does Asch's study support the concept of NSI as an explanation for conformity? | This supports NSI as an explanation of conformity BECAUSE the task was unambiguous and the participants later stated they knew the answer but conformed in order to avoid ridicule from the group, which is what NSI suggests. Therefore, increasing the validity of NSI as an explanation of conformity. |
Why is research to support NSI as an explanation for conformity, by Asch, gender bias? | As only males were tested it is difficult to generalise the findings to females as it is suggested that females might be more conformist because they are more concerned about social relationships and are more concerned with being liked by their peers than males (Neto,1995). Therefore, this shows that NSI explains conformity for some people (females) more than it does for others (males). |